


The Heart of a Warrior

by Doodlingloser



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One-Shot, WindClan (Warriors)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22940419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doodlingloser/pseuds/Doodlingloser
Summary: Jake must guide his son, Rusty, to the right path to join his old friend Tallstar and his clan.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	The Heart of a Warrior

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Warriors au where Tallstar adopts Rusty into Windclan as his adoptive son. This is just a one-shot right now and was originally written for an audience who is not familiar with warriors.

The undergrowth was green. It was the type of green that has the birds singing and making nests for their young underneath the canopy of new leaves. Almost every animal knew new-leaf was finally here after a bitter leaf-bare. Far out on the moor, foxes and badgers had lumbered out of their burrows and greeted the rising sun as it bathed their fur in warm light. Pools of sunlight streamed down from the new leaves budding on tree branches.

There was a disturbance in the forest, however. In the more urban part of the forest where there were twoleg nests, a fat orange tom and his young son carefully brushed beneath each plant with care. The older cat tried his best not to make noise as he tread lightly, but was clumsier than the wild cats that lived nearby simply because he lacked the proper training. His son still had soft, downy fur like a kitten and acted just like one, often getting distracted and straying from his father’s path to catch a moth. Wrapped around both their necks was a green tendril and a chattery bell hanging off it that was sure to scare any prey.

The older tom didn’t need prey to fill his belly, however, and he didn’t need to build nests like most animals during new-leaf. He knew that when he returned from his journey to the moor that he would be welcomed back by caressing hands and a bowl full of food.

The smaller tom leaped from bramble to bramble, clumsily making his way through the undergrowth.

“Are we there yet?” He asked, turning back to his father.

“Almost,” the orange tom replied, but not without giving his son a sorrowful look.

The father guided his son back onto the path and once they reached where the edge of the forest met the moor, they sat there.

The two of them might have sat there a very long time in silence. Finally, the younger tom let out a sigh and began to scratch an itch behind his ear.

“Jake, I’m bored! Will your friend come? I really want to meet him already.”

“Be patient, Rusty. I’m sure he’s on his way,” Jake replied, giving his son a glance.

Rusty’s green eyes widened. “What if he doesn’t come?”

Jake playfully rolled his eyes. “He will. You have nothing to worry about. Now stop getting so worked up and sit still. Your mother’s already upset that I brought you here into the wild. Imagine the look on her face when she finds out you met my friend, Tallstar, all dirty like that!”

Rusty stifled a purr. “Nutmeg would never understand. She never even wanted to leave the backyard.”

Jake shrugged his shoulders, and gave his chest fur a quick lick. “Some cats are just different. Some cats like the protection their housefolk provide, like how I do. Others are independent, and prefer to hunt for themselves and live alone. And others- others like Tallstar- like to live in groups that look after each other.”

“Yeah! And they hunt, fight, and train to become warriors like me!” Rusty leaped up and down.

Jake gave his son a warm look, but didn’t reply. Instead they continued to sit in silence and stare out across the moor. 

Jake briefly noticed a young fox cub and his mother off in the distance. It was far away enough that it didn’t possess any potential danger, but he felt a hollow and empty feeling in his heart as he saw the mother training his son how to hunt.

Jake looked up into the trees at the edge of the forest, and saw the baby birds in the nest flapping their wings and gazing over the edge of the nest. Were they trying to fly away from their mother? Jake felt his heart stir.

“Jake! Someone’s coming! Is that your friend, Tallstar? If it is, he sure does have a tall tail, just like you told me!”

Jake was not surprised that Rusty detected a nearby scent sooner than he did. He always seemed to be a natural hunter, more so than he or his mother. Rusty always spoke of his wild dreams of living in the forest and catching his own prey, while Jake never had. Jake liked to explore outside his housefolk’s yard, but he always desired to return home in time for supper. On the other hand, Rusty always shot a remorseful look back into the woods whenever Jake told him it was time to go back home.

Jake finally detected the familiar scent of his old friend when he saw his black and white pelt walking towards the woods. Tallstar smelled like heather that grew on the moor, and the smell reminded Jake of rabbits, even though he had never tasted rabbit himself. His wiry body leaped gracefully across each rock and tumble with care- more care than Jake could as he clumsily stumbled blindly through the forest.

Tallstar nodded his head as he approached. Although it was just a polite nod, the look in his amber eyes spoke more than words ever could.

He was proud of Rusty, as if he was his own.

“Rusty. It’s so good to finally meet you. Jake told me all about you,” Tallstar purred.

“My father told me all about you! You live in a clan on the moor called Windyclan or something! You hunt rabbits and live in burrows! And you train to be warriors!” Rusty leaped to his paws and eyed the older cat with wonder.

Tallstar stifled a purr of laughter. “Close enough. My clan is called Windclan. We do hunt rabbits, unlike the other clans who live in the forest who hunt mice, and the other clan who lives by the river who catch fish.”

“Fish? Cats actually eat fish and like getting their fur wet? That’s disgusting!” Rusty stuck his tongue out. “I hope you won’t make me eat fish when I join Windclan.”

Tallstar shot Jake a quick look that broke his heart into little pieces.

“Rusty,” Tallstar started in a gentle voice. “Cats like you usually aren’t accepted into the clans easily. Cats who- cats who live with twolegs.”

For the first time, Rusty’s ears began to droop and he backed away hesitantly. “What will I do? How will they accept me?”

Tallstar looked up into the cloudless sky as if he was asking his ancestors for answers. “I accept you, but that doesn’t mean the other cats will. You must prove your loyalty. You cannot live with a paw in each world. If you join our clan, that means that you can never go live with your mother or father or twolegs again.”

Jake had told Rusty this, but he had brushed it off as if he refused to accept his fate. Now that he was standing before the leader of Windclan, Rusty backed away closer to Jake, as if he was trying to shrink away.

“Rusty, I told you this before when you said you wanted to join the clans,” Jake whispered softly in his ear. “I know you can do it.”

Rusty took a deep breath, as if he was taking in Jake’s scent one last time. Although he trembled, Jake knew what his final decision would be without a doubt.

Rusty straightened up and faced Tallstar. “I’ll join your clan. I was born to be a wild cat- not sit and eat kittypet slop and grow fat.”

Jake winced as his son spoke this way, as if he was criticizing his father’s choice of life. His heart refused to let his son leave him, but he admired the courage of the fiery young tom- a courage that was unique to only Rusty that Jake could only dream of having.

Rusty turned back to look at Jake. He somehow looked older and more mature as he addressed his father. “I won’t forget anything you taught me. Because of you, I’ll respect all ways of life- kittypet or warrior.”

Jake had never felt so proud of his son. He was so distracted taking in Rusty’s green eyes one last time that he jumped when Tallstar spoke.

“He’s just like you, Jake.”

Jake looked behind Rusty to see Tallstar. His eyes were older and wiser than Jake remembered, and he wondered himself if he had gotten as old as Tallstar.

“I’ll show him this new way of life. This is who he must become,” Tallstar said, as his voice took on a wild and distant tone. He suddenly got a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was seeing something Jake could not.

Rusty pressed against his father one last time, and turned towards the moor, following Tallstar as the wind billowed their pelts. Jake watched until he could no longer see the two of them, then turned back towards the forest.

He wondered if Rusty and Tallstar were just a distant memory all along, but he knew he would never forget his dear friend he met all those moons ago. He would never forget his fiery young son with the heart of a warrior.

As Jake approached his twoleg den, the little birds he saw earlier were flying out of their nest for the first time. They were clumsy on their wings, but they flew nonetheless. They were leaving home with nothing to stop them.

Jake smiled warmly. He decided for the rest of the day he would sit in the sun.


End file.
